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Why didn't I buy a e-reader sooner? (dubvee.org)

submitted 5 days ago by ptz@dubvee.org to c/books@lemmy.world

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I've got a large collection of e-books, but I've always just read them on my phone. Finally broke down and bought a proper e-reader with the nice e-ink display. Why didn't I do this forever ago?

It's got a backlight, but using it under a lamp with reflected light is just so much easier on my eyes and feels more like a paper book. I also haven't read a book written on dead trees in a good minute, so sitting under a lamp just brings back a missing piece of the experience I didn't even know was gone.

I also just can't get over how "fake" the display looks. Fake is usually not used to describe something positively, but in this case, it's a huge praise. The text and book cover images just look like they're printed on a sheet of paper and slipped inside to make the device look functional...like a movie prop. Turning the backlight on diminishes this effect somewhat, though (which is another reason I prefer to leave it off).

I also love that I can just set it down and not worry about coming back to a dead battery, lol. The reader app on my phone is set to prevent it from going to sleep or turning off the screen, so sometimes I'll set it down to go take care of something else, forget, and come back to a nearly dead battery.

To everyone who has recommended these gizmos to me, I finally get it. I know I said reading books on my phone was good enough, but I was wrong.

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[-] InEnduringGrowStrong@sh.itjust.works 56 points 5 days ago

E-Ink is actually magic.

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 15 points 5 days ago

Closest thing to magic I'll ever see, for sure.

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[-] sc2pirate@lemmy.world 42 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Check out annas-archive.org to get digital backups of books you already own that may be otherwise protected by drm. Definitely don't use it to pirate books. Piracy is bad.

Edit:

Also you can use calibre to manage your book library outside of various large book providers.

https://calibre-ebook.com/

[-] hardcoreufo@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

My ethics on piracy are it depends on who's profiting. If the original writer is dead and the estate is profiting like Tolkien, fuck em. If the book is good but the author sucks like Orson Scott Card, fuck em. A living writer who you want to keep writing books, go out and buy that shit or at least get it from Libby.

Also humble bundle is a great source for building a large legal library. Though sometimes they tie bundles to kobo which sucks. They didn't used to do that.

[-] sc2pirate@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

I can definitely get on board with this strategy, although I usually try to buy hard copies of the authors who are still kicking and writing.

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 6 points 5 days ago

I do already manage my library with Calibre and use the webapp version of it to sync books to my phone (sadly, this reader doesn't support OPDS). But yeah, I've got some books that are locked up in Play books and/or Kindle I need to unshackle. lol

[-] johannesvanderwhales@lemmy.world 12 points 4 days ago

E-ink is fantastic for reading and i wish the technology was more widely used .

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[-] UnPassive@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago

I have a Kobo Libre 2 and love it. I used to read physical books at night with a neck light to not bother my wife, but a back-lit e-reader is so much better and easier. I definitely read more just from convenience. Better to travel with too. I'm also dyslexic and the dyslexic font helps me read longer with less mental fatigue

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 6 points 4 days ago

I'm also dyslexic and the dyslexic font helps me read longer with less mental fatigue

Same. I definitely appreciate that it includes the OpenDyslexic font option. Have had decent luck just using the built-in serif font which helps a lot, but the dyslexic font is there when I need it.

[-] zcd@lemmy.ca 15 points 5 days ago

They are just amazing aren't they? I got one with a colour E ink screen to read comics and it's just incredible

[-] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 12 points 5 days ago

I will pay through the nose and be thrilled about it when Boox is able to get a 13" color reader out.

I love the pocketable 7" color go with page buttons, but I really want one the size of my max.

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[-] ptz@dubvee.org 7 points 5 days ago

I almost went for the color one, but got a "starter" one that's just black and white. I think it's a little smaller than the color model, too, which gives it a nice, paperback size to hold.

[-] classic@fedia.io 5 points 5 days ago

All the colors rich enough?

[-] quixotic120@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago

color page

Color page on boox ultra tab c. They (and basically all manufacturers with kaleido3) do post processing on marketing images that make things look more vibrant. It’s fine for manga and I like it but it’s definitely underwhelming and washed out.

Additionally the color filter lowers the contrast of the display and makes the image overall dimmer. Like op I think it looks best with no front light but this one is so dim i often have it on unless I’m under intense light (reading outside for example). I can’t upload a second image with my app but it looks good, just dim

The color also increases ghosting. This is remedied by refreshing the screen fully on page turns but this eats up battery. Heavy reading (like 10+ hours a day) gets me 2 days at most. If I read more typically, like 2-3 hours a day, I get 4-5 days. The huge battery makes it heavy

Also fwiw boox is a mixed bag. The device itself is nice but their customer service is dogshit. I broke the panel, which is very easy. Mine broke from a roughly 1 foot drop onto carpet. The panels are much more fragile. Getting it fixed was expensive, over 50% of the cost of the device. That’s not their fault, of course, but then on top of that I had to pay shipping to them. Again, smaller company, but also a $600 tablet. Then the repair literally took 8 weeks and they gave me replacement panel with 5 dead pixels and 3 pixels “stuck on” that are super distracting, but they only define dead pixels as a problem if it’s in a small box that is the dead center. They don’t have enough panels, which is why the repair took so long, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they are okaying shit panels because they are scarce. They also broke the fingerprint reader during the repair. They did offer to fix what they broke for free but I still had to pay to ship to them again (its like $30) and wouldn’t have the device for god knows how long again. I just use it without a fingerprint to unlock but typing the passcode (or anything) is a pain because of the latency for the screen to update.

On the other hand their software team is great. The software has some rough edges but it runs mihon fine and when the software has issues I report them and often get an update on how to fix and occasionally have gotten feature suggestions implemented even.

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[-] negativenull@lemmy.world 13 points 5 days ago

I've had a Kindle Paperwhite for many years, and love it. I run a Calibre server at home (using https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web), which makes e-book management nice and easy.

I just wish Amazon didn't so thoroughly control the e-book reader and book market. I know there are other options, but there have been few in the past.

[-] anguo@lemmy.ca 5 points 4 days ago

I've had my kindle paperwhite for over 12 years now. For some time I've been secretly wanting it to die so that I can replace it with a Kobo to be able to borrow books from the local libraries. But lately I became proud of how long it's been serving me, and just ordered a battery replacement.

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[-] ptz@dubvee.org 6 points 5 days ago

I got a Kobo based on prior recommendation and also run Calibre-Web, but I don't have (or haven't yet found) a way to connect the two. On my phone, I could browse Calibre via OPDS but haven't found a way to do that with the Kobo (yet?). It has a primitive web browser, but I couldn't get Calibre to load on it to try downloading books that way.

Ended up just downloading my books from Calibre-web to my laptop and shuffled them over USB. 🤷‍♂️

Had considered a Kindle but read that they were a hassle to load your own books onto, so went with something less beholden to the manufacturer.

If/when I upgrade, probably looking at something like the Scribe (or the Kobo equivalent) to also use for note taking.

[-] Mnem667@sh.itjust.works 5 points 5 days ago

I don't know about your specific model of kobo, but my Clara hd has a rudimentary web browser built-in, in a "Beta Features" menu.

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 3 points 4 days ago

It does, but it wouldn't load Calibre web. At they very least, it choked when it redirected to Authelia for login.

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[-] WanderingVentra@lemm.ee 7 points 4 days ago

Do e-readers work with pdfs? I have various DnD books I've bought online and I'd love to be able to store them on one easily carry able device.

[-] kux@lemm.ee 8 points 4 days ago

pdfs are usable but generally unsatisfactory on ereaders. there are various pdf to epub converters although i can't say how well they'd deal with the tables and graphics in those manuals

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

This one does, but not sure about in general.

[-] WanderingVentra@lemm.ee 3 points 4 days ago

Nice! I'll have to look into this. I love physical books but I'm running out of space 😭

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 5 points 4 days ago

I got a Kobo (which had been recommended to me multiple times over a Kindle), and I'm happy with it so far. A little limited in some areas, but you can copy any supported format over USB easy enough. Looking into alternate firmware that may open more doors, connectivity-wise.

[-] Omniforous@mander.xyz 3 points 4 days ago

If you are able to see up Calibre to manage your eBook library, you can set it up to sync your library to your kobo. I followed this guide when I set it up for my wife. It does mess up the shop on the device, but our way enough to get DRM free ebooks elsewhere and just sync it to the kobo

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Oh, wow. Thanks! I didn't even know Calibre-web already had that. Was looking at a different sync hack that would let me use Nextcloud, but this is even better.

Edit: Just set that up, and seems to be syncing. Looks like it pulls everything? Was naively hoping it would present my library as the "store" lol.

Oh, no, nevermind. Just sync'd the metadata and the covers. Still have to download them. Nice!

Thanks for that!

[-] Omniforous@mander.xyz 3 points 4 days ago

You can also set it up to only sync certain "bookshelves' if you share a library or don't want to look at all the books on your kobo all the time

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 2 points 4 days ago

Ah, I see that option now (and the option for the shelves).

I may just leave it as "all" and keep the metadata for everything on hand and just download the full books on-demand. That way when I add new stuff, it'll automatically be available.

[-] Boozilla@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago

I love mine, too. It's nothing fancy, and is pretty old at this point. Maybe I should consider an upgrade.

Of course I can't mention it to anyone in person without them telling me how much they prefer reading "real books". It's no joke happened 100% of the time. I don't know why people feel required to reply that way.

[-] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 7 points 5 days ago

What I really miss is the browsing. There's no similar experience to just wandering a section of a big library/bookstore and seeing what looks interesting.

I definitely prefer custom fonts and the ability to use a size that fits more than 3 paragraphs on a page though. And having whatever book I want on hand immediately.

[-] metaStatic@kbin.earth 6 points 5 days ago

it's the smell and while I agree with the sentiment I'm team e-reader all the way.

[-] dresden@discuss.online 3 points 4 days ago

Haha, I am one of those people. Never thought about like that. Though I go with "physical" not "real".

[-] Boozilla@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

I understand the appeal of physical books. And in some ways, they are a better experience. It's just mildly annoying how predictable it is. I pretty much avoid talking about my e-reader at this point. I'd rather talk about titles and authors with my friends who read anyway.

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[-] luciddaemon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 4 days ago

E-readers have been one of the best investments I made. Started with the Kobo Libra H2O, moved on the Boox Air. For my personal needs it was a perfect upgrade, a reader and note taker all in one device

[-] dresden@discuss.online 5 points 4 days ago

E-book readers are great. I prefer to read physical books, but for some of the older books that are difficult to find locally, I just get the ebook.

Still have a 15 old Sony Pocket reader, without wifi or any bells and whistles. Still work like a charm though, and battery life is still pretty good. Though, I didn't use it much for about 6-7 years in the middle, and then light use for 3-4 years, but still, something like that to last 15 years, and still keep working is so nice!

[-] ITGuyLevi@programming.dev 2 points 3 days ago

I think mine might be that old, Sony PRS-505. It's still in great shape with decent battery life (though the cover is massively flaking).

[-] dresden@discuss.online 1 points 2 days ago

Yours might even be older than me. I have Sony PRS-350. It was released in 2010 (and when I bought it) PRS-505 was apparently released in 2008, don't know when you bought it though.

And yeah, the official leather cover (bought separately) has broken down, during the time when I wasn't using it. Device itself works like a charm though.

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[-] mp3@lemmy.ca 7 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I got myself an eReader from Kobo mostly for the Pocket integration.

It's nice just scanning for potentially interesting articles and submit them to my Pocket account while I'm on the computer, and settle down to read the articles cleared from distraction and junk on a paper-like display before going to bed, or while riding the bus to work since it's all synced up for offline use.

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 7 points 5 days ago

That's what ended up buying, a Kobo. I've never really messed with Pocket (usually turning it off is one of the first things I do when setting up a fresh FF install lol). However, this may be a good use for it since it would be easier to do that than print to PDF, copy that over, and then read.